Households getting electricity from Alabama Power Co. are using 6%
less than five years ago. But their monthly power bills still have
increased by an average of 8%, partly because of a lucrative rate
agreement that the utility brokered with state regulators 30 years
ago.

“an absurd tax upon the rest of their fellow-citizens”
—Adam Smith

The deal allows Alabama Power, the state’s largest electric utility,
to adjust its rates annually to maintain a return on equity, a
measure of profit, of 13% to 14.5%. Now it is coming under fire from
consumer advocates and one state utility commissioner, who argue
that the utility’s profit levels are too high.

Last year the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation’s
largest private prison company, received $74 million of taxpayers’ money
to run immigration detention centers.
Georgia, receives $200 a night for each of the 2,000 detainees it holds,
and rakes in yearly profits between $35 million and $50 million.

Prisoners held in this remote facility depend on the prison’s phones
to communicate with their lawyers and loved ones. Exploiting inmates’
need, CCA charges detainees here $5 per minute to make phone calls. Yet
the prison only pays inmates who work at the facility $1 a day. At that
rate, it would take five days to pay for just one minute.

Recent anti-immigration laws in Alabama (HB56) and Georgia (HB87)
guarantee that neighbor facilities will have an influx of “product.”
In the past few years, CCA has spent $14.8 million lobbying for
anti-immigration laws to ensure they have continuous access to fresh
inmates and keep their money racket going. In 2010 CCA CEO Damon
T. Hininger received $3,266,387 in total compensation.